Cancer drug may have got into food chain through tainted horsemeat

THE claims were made by Labour yesterday who said that a drug linked to cancer in humans may have entered the food chain and claimed Con-Dem cuts to inspections at abbatoirs could make it easier for this to happen.

Agriculture Minister David Heath told the Commons that the FSA checked all meat

LABOUR claimed yesterday that a drug linked to cancer in humans may have got into the food chain through tainted horsemeat.

The row in the Commons followed last week’s scandal over traces of horsemeat being found in some value supermarket burgers.

Shadow Environment Secretary Mary Creagh told MPs that “several” horses slaughtered in the UK and later sold for food in France had a veterinary drug called phenylbutazone, known as Bute, in their bodies.

She said bute could cause cancer in humans, and claimed Con-Dem cuts to inspections at abbatoirs could make it easier for it to get into our food chain.

Agriculture Minister David Heath said the Food Standards Agency did the same checks on slaughtered horses as on other animals. But the FSA admitted five horses tainted with Bute had got into the food chain in France.